


Understanding the Passage of Time

by whiteraven1606



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Episode Tag, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Slash, Time Travel, WAFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-13
Updated: 2011-07-13
Packaged: 2017-10-21 08:29:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ronon didn't understand how it could be only a few hours for him but nearly six months for Sheppard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding the Passage of Time

Ronon didn't really grasp what Teyla had been trying to explain until they were walking back out to the cave and Sheppard was scratching his beard. Ronon moved ahead so no one would try to talk to him. Sheppard hadn't had a beard. And one didn't grow out like that in a few hours. He still didn't understand how time managed not to be time, but it had. Sheppard was older, more tired. Ronon slipped around a tree and watched the others come towards him.

Sheppard had a slight limp too. Moving back out onto the trail, Ronon waited until they caught up to him and shortened his stride so that he didn't outdistance them. He wasn't sure what to make of Sheppard's way of thinking. If he'd be trapped with no one seeming to come for him, Ronon knew he'd react differently than Sheppard. He'd asked the military people what they were taught after deciding to stay on Atlantis. He'd gotten some very different answers than what he figured they were supposed to say. His people's military had be a lot like theirs in some situations.

As everyone loaded onto the jumper, Ronon wasn't surprised when Sheppard refused to pilot it back. He fell asleep two minutes in and Ronon pulled him off McKay's shoulder and propped him more upright. Telya smiled softly at them and Ronon narrowed his eyes and stared at her. He really hated when she acted like an older sister. It was more annoying than McKay's constant complaining.

It didn't take long to get Sheppard out of the infirmary and back to his own room. Ronon made a deal with McKay to have him get food and bring it to Sheppard. That was always the easiest way to get McKay to go away for a while. Teyla smirked at him and excused herself. Ronon sighed because he knew that meant Teyla knew they'd become bonded, but now Ronon wasn't sure they were. Sheppard wasn't touching. He always touched people. A lot. He'd started touching Ronon more often in the last two weeks.

Watching Sheppard stumble forward and fall face first onto his little bed, it hit Ronon how much a day could mess with Sheppard. He waited until the snores started. He gently tugged off Sheppard's boots and studied the wear patterns for a few moments before moving on and stripping the pants off so Sheppard would be able to roll over in his sleep without waking himself up. Folding everything neatly, Ronon tried to ignore the weird smell that everything had.

He found Sheppard's sleeping nest, no, bag. They called it a bag, which bugged him a little because they called the black sort bags too. The ones the dead went away in. He unzipped the sleeping bag and spread it across Sheppard. He tucked it under both sides of Shep's torso so that he couldn't roll right off his bed. Ronon had laughed at him about that in the past. The door chime sounded and Ronon didn't like that the snores didn't even change tone. He let McKay in.

"He went to sleep? Uh. I would have thought he'd at least... Nevermind." McKay sat down the tray, shoving the things on Sheppard's desk around as he did. "He say anything to you?"

Ronon took the apple. He'd come to really like the green sort. "Asked how Atlantis was doing."

McKay nodded and took the pudding cup. He turned the chair around and sat in it facing Ronon where he'd settled at the foot of Sheppard's bed. "Time delineation is difficult. He knows, because he's really good at math and much smarter than he tries to appear, that we've not aged like he has. He knows he's had more time pass than we have."

Leaning his head back a little, Ronon studied McKay's fidgeting. There was a language to it. Right now it was saying guilt and worry. Well, it always said worry. "He won't think it was your fault."

McKay pointed his spoon at him. "He's not breaking up with you. Just be..." McKay snorted. "Patient you can do, I don't even know why I'm telling you that." He took a huge spoonful of pudding and then started talking around it. "You know he doesn't know I know he's involved with you."

Ronon shoved down the urge to tell him how uncivilized talking while chewing food was. "Yeah." Ronon reached up and touched the bottom of Sheppard's foot. "Why is he so tired?"

McKay sat down the empty pudding cup and leaned forward with his forearms on his thighs. "I think he considered it combat. You know how he gets on missions? That hyper alert thing he does while trying to look clueless." McKay cocked his head. "Think about it like he's been a Runner for six months while his squad abandoned him."

Ronon blinked. "Oh." That actually made sense. He'd slept a day and a half straight through once he'd decided to stay on Atlantis. It had been so good to be relatively safe. "That's why you were so frantic."

Nodding, McKay straightened back up. "I knew how someone with his history would react to being seemingly left to die. I couldn't waste time trying to explain it. I had to get him out before he died of old age. Or, knowing him, some heroic act of sacrifice."

"Six months?"

"Approximately." McKay stood up and moved closer. "You might want to manhandle him further up on the bed. His knees are going to be killing him if he stays that way too long." Then McKay bustled out the door.

Ronon stared at the closed door for a minute before unfolding himself and standing up. He pulled Sheppard further up on his bed and turned him so his face wasn't straight down into the pillow. That changed his snores, but didn't even slow them down. Ronon watched him snore for a few breaths more and then turned away. He needed to hit something and nothing in Sheppard's room could be hit and not hurt it or him.

****

As Teyla slammed her stick into his thigh, again, Ronon jumped and yelped. He knew this had been a bad idea, but he couldn't take listening to Shep's snores one more moment so this had seemed like a better idea at the time.

"You must focus, Ronon."

He just dropped to his butt, crossed his arms over his knees, and didn't react when Teyla landed another hit across his shoulder before stopping and staring at him. "I don't understand it."

She knelt beside him. "John will return to normal with time."

He sighed. "The time thing. I don't understand it. Time is time. It doesn't just change. Perception of it can be different, but not time itself."

She tugged the sticks from his hands and set them aside with her own. "When you saw John's facial hair did you think that was only perception?"

He dropped his head onto his arms. "No. This is why I don't understand. McKay said for Sheppard it has been six months."

Teyla ghosted her hand across his dreads. "Ronon, you can call him John without it causing him problems. His military will not infer anything from it."

He curled his toes inside his shoes. She had no idea some of the things he'd overhead the military say, even though the civilians were usually worse most of the time. "I've always called him Sheppard." He could feel her rolling her eyes. He sometimes wondered if she learned it from Sheppard's people.

They sat silently for a while, then Teyla stretched her legs. "Consider it compressed time. You've seen that movie of John's with the time that is shown to go so slowly?"

He lifted his head. "Yes."

"Consider it as though time went the other way. Much, much faster. And only for those within the ring of mountains."

He blinked. "I must go."

Teyla shot up as he came to his feet. "Ronon."

He ignored her as he grabbed up his towel. Only as he strode for the door did he turn to face her. "Thank you."

She smiled that soft smirk smile he usually hated. "You are welcome, as always, Ronon."

****

He was pleased to find that Sheppard hadn't moved and was still snoring. Ronon scooted him over and re-tucked the sleeping bag to keep him on the bed. Then he sat down and threaded his fingers through Sheppard's hair. After indulging himself for a while, Ronon pulled down the covers and stripped Shep's shirt off. It took a bit of wiggling to get it out from under him.

Ronon fingered each faint scar. Whoever healed him had done it well, the claw marks along his side were barely visible. Sheppard suddenly started to rollover and Ronon had to lunge to catch him before he could fall off the narrow bed. Getting Sheppard resettled, Ronon snorted when the snores continued unabated. Getting a clean t-shirt onto Sheppard proved harder than Ronon had expected. Sheppard seemed to move the wrong way every time Ronon tried to get the shirt on him.

Once that was done, Ronon re-tucked the sleeping bag and slid to sit on the floor next to the bed. He pulled Sheppard's laptop to him and got the reports to come up. He resorted the list to show the important messages first. He was getting better at English. He only had to call McKay once to undelete something he hadn't meant to delete. He liked it that while McKay bitched about everything he never made fun of him when he messed up reading English.

After putting the laptop where Sheppard would see it when he finally woke, Ronon leaned his head back and dozed. The stress the other had been under had made his nerves uneasy, making him more tired than normal.

****

John jerked awake at an unfamiliar noise. He lay with his eyes closed and furrowed his brow as the feeling of his City seeped into his awareness. He shouldn't be feeling the City. He hadn't...Oh. Right, they'd come for him. Ronon had looked just like John remembered him. Exactly, same shirt and...John bolted upright, the sleeping bag falling down to his lap. Ronon was leaning against the side of his bed, sleeping. John rubbed one eye and pulled his laptop to himself. Uh. Messages for only one day. That wasn't...Sheppard suddenly remembered all the crap McKay had been spurtering on the way out. Time delineation.

"Well, shit." John put down his computer and ran his hands through his hair. They hadn't abandoned him at all. He'd been gone hours to them. Looking down at Ronon, John rubbed the back of his neck. He'd cheated. On Ronon. Blinking, John climbed out of his tiny bed and stumbled his way into his bathroom. Everything was in the right places. No dust. Not that the City would allow his things to get dusty if possible. John scratched his beard as he looked himself in the mirror. They'd not meant to leave him alone. He ran his fingers across the counter top as he looked at himself.

He needed a hot shower. Everything would be better after that. John leaned against the wall as the water poured down on him. Finally the water started cooling, which was the City's way of pointing out he was turning into a prune, John shaved quickly and then toweled off. On the edge of the counter was neatly folded clean clothes. John dressed and stepped back out to find Ronon sitting up against the side of his bed. Silently watching him.

John ignored him, instead checking out the tray of food. The shame of not waiting, of giving up, weighed on him. McKay had picked the food, John could tell by how much mashed potatoes were on the plate. McKay loved the sort that came from flaked potato dehydrated for storage. John touched the edge of the tray with a finger. He wasn't really hungry. Turning, John pulled down the covers. He'd deal with it all later. He just wanted to sleep. His head hurt and his chest was too tight. Sleep would dull some of that. He hoped.

Pulling up the covers took more energy than John could muster. He was surprised when Ronon didn't say anything as he pulled the covers up and tucked them around John's stomach. John clumsily patted Ronon's forearm as he fell away into sleep.

****

Now that Ronon understood what Sheppard had endured he wasn't upset when the bathroom door closed without a word from Sheppard. Ronon stood up and listened carefully until the shower started. He found the clothes Shep wore when he was trying to be comfortable and slipped in long enough to put them on the counter. He sat back down next to the bed. He figured Sheppard wasn't really awake yet. He'd go to sleep again, which was what he needed.

Ronon watched as Sheppard considered the food and then flopped back into his bed. Moving carefully, Ronon pulled the blanket up and tucked them around Sheppard who lazily smacked his forearm several times before stilling as he went to sleep. Ronon frowned down at his friend. Carefully moving away, Ronon slipped out the room and nearly stepped on McKay, who was up to his knees in the wall beside Sheppard's door.

"Shit!" McKay yanked his leg up as Ronon tried to step over it and Ronon ended up twisting in the air to keep from harming either of them. McKay shoved himself out of the wall. "Watch were you're walking, you..." McKay looked up at him. "Oh. Hey." He squinted at Ronon. "Sit down."

Blinking, Ronon dropped to crouch beside McKay, who pulled on his shoulder. "Stop it."

"What'd he do? He tell you to leave? I'll talk to him." McKay started to lever himself upright and Ronon pulled him back down.

"No." Keeping McKay down, Ronon used his legs to push himself back to the wall and sat. "He went to sleep."

McKay frowned. "He was already asleep, wasn't he? He wasn't faking. I thought I was getting better telling when he was faking. Was he..."

"McKay."

"Sorry. Shutting up now."

Ronon leaned back against the wall. "What's it mean for Sheppard to pat my arm?"

McKay titled his head. "When was that?"

After he explained, Ronon relaxed as McKay's expression slid towards amused. Which was better than trying for understanding.

"That wasn't anything bad. He was just trying to say thank you in his own twisted way." McKay shoved himself up and turned to look down at Ronon. "Come on. We'll move him to your room."

Ronon followed McKay back into Sheppard's room. "Why?"

McKay snorted and moved to one wall. Fiddling with something Ronon couldn't see, McKay talked over his shoulder. "You bed is bigger. And, you know, he'll cuddle in his sleep. It can be cute." McKay grimaced and shook a finger at him. "Don't mention I said that. Ever."

Ronon nodded and McKay touched the wall one last time and suddenly the whole thing shifted and opened up into a narrow corridor that smelled of nothing, like Ancient rooms that hadn't been opened in a long time.

"There." McKay turned and smiled up at him. "Well? Pick him up all ready, Conan."

Ronon snorted. He actually liked the movies with that character, there was a lot of fighting and naked flesh in them. Ronon pulled the sheet loose and hefted Sheppard covers and all. He followed McKay into the little hallway and he kept count of his pace as they went. They stopped and McKay opened an access panel and started working with the little crystal cards. Ronon waited and wondered to himself why they were going this way instead of the hallway.

"Okay, almost there." McKay glanced at him and then went back to what he was working on. "I'm not saying you have to hide or anything. He just wouldn't want to be seen being carried through the halls is all. You know how he can get about what the Marines see of him."

Ronon knew, but he still wasn't sure about it all. "Doesn't make sense."

McKay frowned over his shoulder at him. "What? Oooh, right. Look Marines tend to think that soldiers that aren't Marines aren't as good as them. John isn't a Marine."

Ronon knew that. "He's Air Force."

With a nod, McKay stepped back as the wall unfolded to reveal Ronon's room. "Right. And to the other service branches the Air Force is just above the Coast Guard in the peeking order." When Ronon raised an eyebrow, McKay wrinkled his nose. "That's way below the Marines."

He'd heard something like this from the lone Army soldier he'd talked to once. She'd explained anything he'd asked about carefully and as fully as she could, sometimes drawing him pictures to help with the weirder concepts. He'd been really sad when she'd died to save a couple of scientists. She'd explained the military mindset on dying for civilians to him too. He'd shared it with the two she'd saved, but it didn't appear to help their guilt much. "He can't appear weak."

"Exactly." McKay watched him lay Sheppard down carefully. "He's not good at emotions. So. Just...wear him down until he talks to you, okay?"

Figuring that meant something he wasn't quite sure of, Ronon nodded and watched McKay retreat down the tiny back hallway before turning and watching Sheppard sleep.

****

John kept his breathing the same as he tried to work out why he was smelling Ronon’s blankets. He was stuck...no, wait, that wasn’t right. They’d come for him and he was home. Only, he was still smelling Ronon’s scent.

Cracking an eye open, John forced himself not to flinch. Ronon’s face was inches from his. Asleep, Ronon looked impossibly young. John started to roll away onto his back, but Ronon seized his arm and pulled him in close.

Huffing a sigh, John buried his face in the crease of Ronon’s neck. He didn’t really want to move. Only a day gone for everyone when it was so much longer for him. Still feeling exhausted, John was slow to notice Ronon’s hand carding through the hair at the back of his head.

“I gave up.” His voice was gruff and John decided he should force himself to eat and drink something soon.

“You survived.” Ronon’s voice rumbled in his chest. “What you call giving up is a step in surviving.”

John let himself relax again as Ronon kept stroking the back of his head.

“I stopped for nearly an hour once during the first year.”

“What got you started again?” John traced the fold of blanket under his fingers.

“Getting shot at.” Ronon shifted so he was leaning over John looking down at him. “You thought we’d left you.”

John made himself keep looking at Ronon. “Yes. I waited, but after a while I couldn’t keep thinking about...you. This. The City.” He glanced away. “I was driving myself crazy.”

Ronon started rubbing John’s back. “McKay says it was six months for you.”

“Yeah.” John stretched into Ronon’s touch. “I, uh...”

****

Ronon pressed hard on the tip of one of Sheppard’s new-old scars and caused him to yelp. “I don’t need you to tell me about what you did when you thought you would never get home.” He could guess, but it didn't matter. That John was here and safe with him was all that mattered.

Sheppard pressed his face harder into Ronon’s shoulder.

“You are here now, John.” Ronon slipped his hand down under Sheppard’s clothing and cupped his ass. “It wasn’t six months for me. I had you just yesterday.” He squeezed lightly and enjoyed Sheppard’s little gasp. “I want to have you again. Many times.”

As Sheppard lifted his head, Ronon could see the smiled tugging at his lips. “As long as I get you too.”

Ronon hugged Sheppard to himself as hard as he could, smiling at the noise Sheppard made.


End file.
